It’s taken eight years for Mean Girls to make it from Broadway to La Mirada for its Southern California Regional Premiere, and McCoy Rigby Entertainment has pulled out all the stops to deliver not only a fabulously directed, choreographed, and performed crowd-pleaser but a freshly designed one as well.

There had, of course, been some not-so-nice female high schoolers on the big screen before Regina George and The Plastics ruled over North Shore High in the Tina Fey-scribed 2004 movie blockbuster Mean Girls, but perhaps only Heathers Chandler, Duke, and McNamara wreaked more havoc on a student body than Queen Bee Regina, approval seeker Gretchen Wieners, and IQ-deprived Karen Smith did fifteen years later.

And Cady Heron wasn’t the first outsider to find herself suddenly a member of the most famed and feared clique in school. (I’m guessing Fey was already familiar with Heathers’ Veronica Sawyer when she created her.)

Whatever the case, nothing about Cady’s  (Katie Roche) parents’ expat life in Kenya could have prepared her for high school in the U.S.A., though at the very least she’s got self-described “art freak” Janis Sarkisian (McKenna Michael) and “too gay to function” Damian Hubbard (Gavin Leahy) beside her to guide her through the jungle that is North Shore High.

What Cady doesn’t expect is for Regina (Adrianna Rose Lyons) and her subservient besties Gretchen (Sarah-Anne Martinez) and Karen (Grace Fluharty) to take her under their wing and remake her in their image.

Further complicating matters is the crush Cady immediately develops on dreamboat classmate Aaron Samuels (Eric Myrick), who just happens to be Regina’s ex.

Talk about a recipe for impending disaster, and a whole lot of singing and dancing along the way.

Fey’s book may lack the bite of the her 2004 script, but that doesn’t make Mean Girls The Musical any less entertaining or cathartic for anyone who ever wished revenge on a high school nemesis, as when Cady convinces a diet-obsessed Regina that the peanut butter, margarine, sugar, cocoa powder, and oats contained in the Swedish Kälteen Bars Fey invented for Mean Girls are the key to maintaining her sexy svelteness. (Looks like Karen’s not the only dimwit in Regina’s clique.)

Also missing from Mean Girls (The Musical) are the kind of memorable hooks that made the scores of previous teen musicals Legally Blonde, Hairspray, and the aforementioned Heathers so eminently hummable. (I love you Tina, but was your husband Jeff Richmond really the right composer for this show?)

On the plus side, Nell Benjamin’s lyrics are as clever as they get, and Fey’s distinctively oddball sense of humor scores laugh after laugh after laugh.

Also a decided plus is La Mirada/McCoy Rigby’s decision to build this major regional premiere from the ground up beginning with Stephen Gifford’s pizzazzy new set, David Murakami’s flashy projections, Steven Young’s dazzling lighting design, Kaitlin Yagen’s eye-catching hair, wigs, and makeup, and Kevin Williams’ vast array of props. (Only Gregg Barnes’ deservedly Tony-nominated costumes are the show’s original Broadway designs.)

La Mirada audiences know Dana Solimando as one of the best choreographers in town, and that talent is once again on full display here, but this time round she’s doing double duty as both choreographer and director, and in the latter role she stages the show with visual panache while eliciting one stellar performance after another.

Lyons is svelte, bitchy perfection as Regina and Roche is so girl-next-door appealing that her transformation into mean girl clone is all the more effective for being unexpected.

A terrific Martinez has us rooting for Gretchen to finally figure out her worth, Fluharty plays it so deliciously dumb as Karen we can’t help but love her, and Myrick reveals prom king appeal as Aaron.

Daryl C. Brown is an appropriately authoritative Mr. Duval, Shailen Patel Braun’s charmer of a Kevin G. proves that even Mathletes can rap with the best of them, and Gwen Hollander steals scene after scene as a pair of distinctively different mothers (Cady’s and Regina’s) and the hot mess that is Ms. Norbury.

Last but not least, Michael (a caustic but empathetic Janis) and Leahy (a flaming but never stereotypical Damian) are what breakout stardom is all about.

Ensembles don’t get any more triple-threat-tastic than Sabrina Astengo (“Lil Pippy Lee”), Alyssa Anne Austin (Mathlete Moderator, Transformer), Eugene Boyd (Art Student), Daniel Dawson (Mr. Heron, Coach Carr, Transformer), Augusto Guardado (Art Student), Brandon Halverson (Tyler Kimball, Art Student), Emmy J. Lane, Jenna Luck, Keturah McIntyre, Caroline Moulios, Barbara Ann Reed, Eric Renna, and Clayton Michael Walker.

Music director/conductor Anthony Zediker brings out the best from both cast and orchestra with Josh Bessom doing his Broadway-caliber best as sound designer.

Rodrigo Varandas is associate director/choreographer. Casting is by Julia Flores. Kevin Corte and Bailey Renee Miller are swings.

Talia Krispel is production stage manager and Jenny Ludwig and Donna R. Parsons are assistant stage managers. David Elzer is publicist.

Now that regional theaters have at long last been given the rights to Mean Girls, I expect we’ll be seeing plenty of local stagings in the months to come, and I for one can’t wait.

Still, I’d be willing to bet that none will match what audiences are being treated to in La Mirada. Regional theater debuts don’t get any more fetch than this.

La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Boulevard, La Mirada.
www.lamiradatheatre.com

–Steven Stanley
April 11, 2026
Photos: Jason Niedle

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

Tags: Jeff Richmond, La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts, Los Angeles Theater Review, McCoy Rigby Entertainment, Nell Benjamin, Tina Fey